Knight Letter No. 45

THE LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY

fioffiht Letter

OF NORTH AMERICA

NUMBER 45 Summer 1993

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New York Gathering Looks at
New Opera, Old Photographs

On a warm, sunny afternoon some 42 (or so) Carrol Hans climbed past the
somnolent lions guarding the Fifth Avenue stairs of the New York Public
Library for our general meeting in the Trustees' Room. We love coming to the
NYPL and this meeting was, as always, very ably arranged by our program
coordinator, Janet Jurist. The curator of the Berg Collection, Mr. Frank Matson,
heartily welcomed us to NYPL once again. In the space of a few moments he
sketched for us the history of the Berg Collection from Dr. Albert Berg's initial
bequest in the early 1940s. Like the great research library that NYPL itself is,
the Berg Collection is actually made up of several collections formed and
acquired by Dr. Berg. The three major collections constituting the Berg
Collection contain 73 titles by Lewis Carroll and from them Mr. Matson had
mounted for us an exhibition of some of the most famous Carroll books and
interesting personal effects (including Lewis Carroll's own dice).

LCSNA president Charlie Lovett thanked Mr. Matson and NYPL for their
welcome. Charlie summarized the main topics discussed at the earlier meeting
of the LCSNA executive committee. Briefly, they are:

1) Progress on the Society's publication of the Lewis Carroll Pamphlets
Series. The first volume, The Oxford Pamphlets, edited so ably by Edward
Wakeling, was recently issued by the University Press of Virginia. The second
volume, The Mathematical Pamphlets, edited by Prof. Fran Abeles, is in
production; and the third volume, Games and Play, to be edited by Martin Gardner, is in process. The University Press of Virginia
will continue to distribute the Pamphlet Series volumes but from now on the Society will be sole publisher rather than co-publisher.
2) Our Carroll Studies series will be continued. August Imholtz is investigating the publication of the lectures on Carroll recently

presented (mostly by LCSNA members)
at the Smithsonian Institution. Several
other publications were also suggested
for what would essentially be a further
experiment in desk-top publishing like
the Society ' s recent edition of The Hunt-
ing of the Snark illustrated by Jonathan
Dixon.

3) Future meetings schedule and con-
tent. Our Fall meeting will be at the
Houghton Library of Harvard University
on the morning of November 20. Details
are on page 5. From June 9- 12, 1994, the
Society will sponsor the Second Interna-
tional Lewis Carroll Conference which
will be held at the Graylyn Executive
Conference Center in Winston-Salem,
NC. There has been some concern on the

part of certain members of the Society
(continued on page 2)

Carroll 's Photograph "St. George and the

Dragon, " and "Le Petit Nemrod, " by J. J.

Tissot. Two works of art compared by

Nancy Finlay at the Spring meeting.

Show and Tell

Those members attending the
Spring meeting of the LCSNA in New
York were delighted when Dr. Sandor
Burstein agreed to share with us his
most recent acquisition to his marvel-
ous Carroll collection. Imagine our sur-
prise when he withdrew from a bat-
tered suitcase Alice Hargreaves' pi-
ano-accordion.

Dr. Burstein was able to play a few
notes on the instrument, which he
brought to New York for repair. In
spite of his inability to play "Santa
Lucia," we could all imagine what a
consolation the instrument must have
been to Alice in her later years.

Editorial —

Go Forth & Multiply

Whenever I attend a LCSNA meeting, or
pick up one of the Society's publications, I
have to remind myself that this organization
is completely supported by volunteers. We
do not have the support of a university with
graduate students and grants at our disposal.
We are not funded by a government agency or
a corporate foundation. Despite this, our
society not only grows and flourishes, but it
also consistently produces programs and pub-
lications of a professional quality which are a
tribute to both the members of the LCSNA
and the man whom it honors.

With membership in a successful volun-
teer organization comes a certain amount of
responsibility, however. Our $20 or $50 per
year (which we all try to remember to pay on
time) supports this newsletter and the afore-
mentioned meetings and publications, but
there are other contributions that members
can make to the Society. Many have given
their time and expertise in planning pro-
grams, or writing, editing, and producing
publications; others have given funds to sup-
port these programs. I speak here, however,
to the ordinary member, who may be far from
our meeting places, have a small income, and
little knowledge of editing or printing. What
can you do to help the Society?

In the past few years, our membership
has steadily grown, recently topping the 400
mark. After many years of having around 300
members, we finally seem to have succeeded
in growing. How did this happen? The
LCSNA does not advertise on cable TV or in
the New York Times. We advertise only one
way — through you, our members. Each year,
members recruit new members, and while a
few old members may drop out, the balance
has worked in our favor in the recent past.

It doesn't take a mathematician of
Carroll's caliber to realize that if each mem-
ber meets another fan of Alice and convinces
him that it is worth $20 to receive this news-
letter and suport research and publishing ef-
forts which will increase our knowledge and
appreciation of Carroll, the Society will double
its size. While I don't expect such dramatic
growth, I do encourage you to prostletize.

It is amazing how many Carroll enthusi-
asts there are out there who have never heard
of the LCSNA simply because we have never
been on Donohue. Mention the Society to
such a person and they are thrilled to join and
find others who share their enthusiasm. So,
please spread the word. By increasing our
membership we can not only provide better
and better programs and publications, we can
also ensure our survival for years to come.

MEETING (continued from page 1)
that our meetings may have become too
much slanted toward the lighter side. We
continue, however, to seek a mixture of
intellectually stimulating talks and inter-
esting presentations for our meetings, in
keeping with the eclectic nature of our
membership. Anyone with suggestions
for speakers or other programming is
asked to contact Janet Jurist, 510 East
86th St., NY, NY, 10028.

4) Finances. Our treasurer, Prof.
Fran Abeles, reported that the Society is
solvent. We have sufficient funds to
cover the publication expense of the next
Pamphlet Series volume and hope that
income will cover the expenses of the
remaining volumes.

5) Membership. The Society's mem-
bership has increased to 410 individual
and institutional members, although some
have been rather slow in paying their
dues.

6) Recognition of Professor Edward
Guiliano. The president thanked Prof.
Guiliano for his 18-year service as chair
of the LCSNA publishing committee
which under his hardworking and me-
ticulous editorial leadership has issued
an impressive series of scholarly publi-
cations. Prof. Guiliano was presented
with a gift by Charlie Lovett and he was
warmly applauded by all. The president
took this opportunity also to thank the
other officers all of whom give so enthu-
siastically to our undertakings.

And now for the program itself. We
began with a presentation by a young
American composer, Susan Botti. Ms.
Botti explained a little about the nature
and genesis of her chamber opera
Wonderglass, which had its world pre-
miere to enthusiastic reviews as part of
the American Artists Series at Cranbrook
in the Detroit area on February 2 1 , 1993.
Ms. Botti has said that the opera is "as
much about Lewis Carroll and the world
he was coming from as it is about the
Alice tales ... It is an exploration of the
ageless territory of the imagination." Ms.
Botti played a number of excerpts faith-
fully recorded from the Detroit perfor-
mance beginning with the prologue
"Dreamscape" through the fall down the
rabbit hole, the interrogation by the Cat-
erpillar, the kitchen scene, and more,
until the final "Farewell to Alice." Our

great thrill and enjoyment, however, was
hearing Ms. Botti, herself a soprano with
a wonderful voice, and three of her sing-
ers, Sherman Ray Jacobs, David Frye,
and nine-year-old Carly Baruh, sing Ms.
Botti' s recreation of "Alice and the
Cheshire Cat." All were splendid. We
only wish that despite the wonders of
teutonic audio-engineering we could have
heard more of Ms. Botti' s voice and
those of her singers whose facial acting
expressions could not have better suited
the work.

From the bright art of music we turned
to the dark art of photography. Our next
speaker, Professor Jeffrey Spear of New
York University, presented a paper en-
titled "Such Lovely Forms of Children:
Charles Dodgson and the Eye of the
Camera." While commenting on
Carroll's long and expert interest in pho-
tography, especially the photographing
of little girls in only natural attire, Profes-
sor Spear expressed the opinion that
Carroll was pushing at the boundaries of
morality in his time. By Spear' s reading
of some of the posed photographs, with
clothed and unclothed subjects, it is dif-
ficult to accept Carroll's own protesta-
tions of innocence on the subject of the
"most beautiful thing God has made."
Spear' s scatophilic interpretations raised
a number of questions, but it seemed, at
least to this listener, that the psychoana-
lytic case still is not proven. Nonethe-
less, Spear did offer some enlightening
comments on composition of the photo-
graphs and other topics such as Dodgson' s
concern with time.

Dr. Nancy Finlay, formerly of the
Houghton Library at Harvard and now
on the staff of NYPL, gave us an intrigu-
ing talk on Lewis Carroll's photographs
and the paintings of J. J. Tissot. Finlay
focused upon a number of Carroll' s pho-
tographs in comparison with Tissot' s
paintings which were very popular in
English society during the 1860s and
1870s. She pointed out strikingly clear
compositional similarities between some
of Carroll's photographs and paintings
like Tissot' s "Le Petit Nemrod." Carroll
and Tissot knew and created studies of
some of the same children in their re-
spective media. Tissot was known to
have "borrowed" arrangements from
(continued on page 7)

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New Editions of Alice

Running Press, whose minitaure books have become regu-
lar fixtures at bookstore counters across the nation, has finally
added Alice to its list. Their edition of Alice in Wonderland is
retold by David Blair and illustrated by Graham Evernden,
whose credits include stamp designs for the British Royal Ma'l.
The illustrations have a proponderence of orange and brown,
not my favorites, and are not particularly original. They are
unobjectionable, however, and if they do nothing to greatly
enhance this edition, the overall effect is still charming. Blair
does a good job of fitting the text into the limited space, editing
rather than rewording so the spirit of the original is not lost. Buy
several now and use them for stocking stuffers. ($4.95 at most
bookstores).

The revived Everyman's Library is another series which
includes Alice. In this case Carroll's story is one of the ten
initial titles published in the series. Alice is illustrated by
Tenniel — not surprising unless you recall that the Everyman's
edition that went through many printings from 1929 until the
late 1970s was illustrated with Lewis Carroll's own drawings
from Alice 's Adventures Underground. ($1 2.95 at most book-
stores).

Inspired by Carroll

Susan Sontag's new play, Alice in Bed, is described by its
publisher, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, as a free dramatic fantasy
based on a real person, Alice James, the brilliant sister of
William and Henry James. In the play Alice James merges with
the other great Alice of her period, the heroine of Carroll ' s Alice
in Wonderland. A tea party is convened where Alice is
counseled by Emily Dickenson and Margaret Fuller and by two
exemplary angry women from the nineteenth-century stage.
(Hardcover $25; paperback $12.00 in most bookstores).

Another fantasy which draws inspiration from Carroll is
much less likely to be worth the read. Published by the vanity
press Vantage Press, Cousins in Wonderland by Michael J.
Williams is described as the story of five lost cousins who
encounter incredible creatures in a magical forest fantasy. The
book is for ages 6-11. ($7.95, from the publisher, 1-800-882-
3273).

Alice in the Art World

Archival Framing (1729 L Street, Sacramento, CA, 95814)
presented a special exhibit honoring Lewis Carroll during
August. The show featured works by over a dozen artists who
were invited to interpret his many characters and stories visu-
ally for this exhibition. A variety of media and styles were
represented, from the surreal drawings of Robert Pengelly to

the colorful sculpture characters cre-
ated by Miriam Davis. For further
information call (916) 444-9624.

A series of Alice murals com-
missioned by the WPA in 1936 will

be reunited at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on October 1 .
Abram Champanier created sixteen seven foot tall panels for
the children' s ward of New York' s Gouverneur Hospital on the
theme of Alice in Wonderland in New York. In the series, Alice
steps out of a book, flies over the East River bridges, rides the
subway with her friends, and visits the Empire State Building,
Central Park, and Coney Island. The Hospital which contained
the murals closed in 1970, and the City of New York sold the
building in 1981 with the stipulation that the murals be pre-
served. Since then, the paintings have been removed, and five
of them have been fully restored and distributed to area hospi-
tals. These five will be displayed at the show "A New Deal for
Public Art: Murals Commissioned by the Federal Work
Programs of the 1930s and 1940s."

Fodder for the VCR

First, the bad news. Disney's series "Adventures in Won-
derland" is now available on videotape, for $ 1 2.99 per episode.
These means you can save the cost of subscribing to the Disney
Channel and still see this show based on Carrollian characters.
I recommend, however, that you also save $12.99 and skip the
show. In spite of all its hype, its endorsement by various teacher
organizations, and its winning of an Emmy Award, I've still yet
to encounter anyone, grown-up or child, who finds this pro-
gram even mildly entertaining. Insipid seems to be the general
consensus.

If you are feeling surreal, try ordering Jan Svankmajer's
film Alice from Critics Choice Video (P.O. Box 749, Itasca, IL,
60143-0749). For $59.95 plus $5.50 shipping and handling,
you will receive probably the least watched and most imagina-
tive Alice film ever made. Using techniques of stop-action
animation and an eclectic collection of antique toys and strange
settings, Svankmajer creates his own Wonderland that has the
dreamlike quality Carroll portrayed in his book. Though
certainly not for those who like to limit their entertainment to
half-hour sitcoms, Alice is a film which will make you think,
imagine, and dream.

Lucerne Media (37 Ground Pine Road, Morris Plains, NJ,
07950; 800-341-2293) offers three Carroll related videos, but
you may have trouble obtaining personal copies, as they are
intended for sale to schools and libraries only. The animated
productions are Alice in Wonderland (26 minutes, $59.95), The
Walrus and the Carpenter (6 minutes, $80), and The Hunting
of the Snark (25 minutes, $295). That last price is not a
misprint — now you know why the cost of education is so high!

Special Supplement:

Alice in the Age of Computers

In the past few years Alice has proliferated in electronic form. She has become available through on-line databases, in computer software
programs, and on CD-ROM. Carroll collectors have also taken advantage of computers to keep track of their collections. Scholars of Carroll 's
logic and mathematics have published articles discussing Carroll's own work as a precursor to the computer database, and there can be no
doubt that many of Carroll's pamphlets are examples of early desktop publishing. With all this in mind, we offer a brief look into a Lewis
Carroll database as an introduction to regular coverage of computer related topics. The 1994 International Lewis Carroll Conference will
include not only a demonstration of the database, but also a panel discussion on the subject of Carroll and computers.

Saga of an Alician Database

by Joel Birenbaum

Although this is an article about an Alice in Wonderland
database, I will try to make it a little less dry than the Mouse's
rendition of William the Conqueror. If I fail in this valiant
endeavor, please feel free to hose yourselves down at suitable
intervals. When I first started collecting illustrated editions of
Alice, I set out to get a first edition of every book listed in The
Illustrators of Alice in Wonderland by Ovendon and Davis.
After all, this was the source of all knowledge in this area. I was
warned that this was a formidable task and one not to be taken
lightly. That was 15 years ago and I'd like to repeat this warning
to others with a similar pursuit. If such a warning deters you,
you are a smarter person than I.

One thing I learned on my joyous journey is that there is no
source of all knowledge for the collectors of Alice. This to me
seems a correctable situation. All you have to do is list all the
editions of Alice and keep it up to date. Once again I have been
warned that that this is yet a more impossible task. To me this
means I should be able to do it six times before breakfast.

How would Lewis Carroll have approached this job? He
maintained a letter register of the thousands of letters he wrote
noting date, addressee, and subject. He kept track of children
he invited to dinner and what he served them. These are clearly
examples of pre-electronic databases. Think of the number of
disks this man would have filled had he been alive today. The
answer was clear.

Now that the decision was made to create an all encompasing
electronic Alice database, I decided to get some concensus on
how to set it up. Needless to say, Carroll collectors were not
quite ready for this upheaval. Most were quite content to stick
with purple ink and paper. At the risk of seeming autocratic, I
decided to create the database as I saw fit. Pioneers suffer from
lack of input, but ah the freedom. So, if you have any
complaints, please tell me where you were a year ago.

Get those hoses ready — we're going to get technical. The
first matter was to choose a database program. I chose DBASE
IV because it was widely used, ran on IBM compatible PCs, and
I had a copy. The good news is that the files created by DBASE
IV can be used by many other database programs. So far so
good. The next matter was to design the structure of the
database. Some of the decisions made were to preserve memory
on my 20MB hard disk. Now that machines come with over
100MB hard disks, these decisions may seem overly con-
strained. The other factor that entered into the equation was my

distaste for typing. For this reason, the three titles to be kept in
the database, Alice, Looking-Glass, and the two combined in
one volume, were abbreviated to one character each. Other
fields added were illustrator, publisher (abbreviated four char-
acter code), copyright date, edition date, reference number, and
description field. The description field is a DBASE IV memo
field, which means it is stored as an address to the data (is that
running water I hear?). This allows the field to be variable
length and saves memory. This would be done even in
machines with 100MB disks. There are also a couple of binary
flag fields for First Edition and also illustrated by Tenniel.
These are fields with a value of yes or no. If the field is marked
"Y" then the book is the first edition thus in one case and
illustrated by Tenniel in the other. Can you imagine how many
times I saved myself the trouble of typing "Tenniel, John"?

The reference field is a concept that is truly Carrollian. This
is a sequentially allocated number that uniquely identifies the
book described in the data record. What did he say? For
example, there is a record that contains (illustrator) Robinson,
Charles; (publisher) cass (for Cassels); (country of publication)
Eng (I know this should be UK, but old habits die hard);
(copyright date) 1907; (date of edition) 1907; (first edition
thus) Y; (also illustrated by Tenniel) N; (reference number)
1 19; and (description) page dimensions, pagination, etc. The
reference number, 119, is now effectively the name of this
edition of Alice. It doesn't really matter how that number was
chosen as long as it is unique (not also assigned to another data
record) and never changes. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, this name
doesn't tell you what shape the book is, but armed with the
reference number and a copy of the database you can not only
find the shape of the book, but the color, pagination, number of
illustrations, and all manner of interesting dinstinguishing
characteristics. I can now ask a fellow collector, "Do you have
a copy of 1 19?" The question is totally unambiguous. True, it
is less colorful than asking, "Do you have a copy of the first
edition of Alice with the Charles Robinson illustrations?" But
you won't get a question in return like this, "Is that the one with
the blue cover or the brown cover?"

Another benefit of the reference field is that it allows each
collector (with a PC) to set up a related database. I don't begin
to believe that I have created a database that has all the
information that everyone wants. I have created a database that
has the basic information about each edition. The reference

field can be used to link the base database to a user's personal
Alice database. For instance, your personal database can have
information about books in your collection. It may have fields
like condition, puchase date, purchase place, cost, and refer-
ence number. By putting the same reference number as the
edition has in the base database, you save yourself the pain of
reentering the descriptive data already contained there. If you
are the type of person who wants to keep track of what your
books are worth, you can add fields for valuation date and
value. This can be used for insurance purposes or for the
pleasure of watching the value vs. cost ratio rise over the years.

The main reason that I created the Alice in Wonderland
database is to allow a collector to identify any edition of Alice.
The side benefits are that we can more easily carry on discus-
sions about collections, particularly when this is being done
intercontinentally. The database construct also allows reports
to be written. That is, the data can be sorted any which way and
printed. You can also filter the data for a report, so as to print
all editions by one illustrator, or all editions by a publisher. This
is a very useful tool. Best of all, you can do online searches.
You can search the database based on one field or a combina-
tion of fields. This allows you to find the record of a specific
book instantaneously (well, very quickly).

I have also created similar databases for Alices illustrated by
Tenniel only and editions of Alice in foreign languages. I still
need much help in populating the latter. If anyone has a contact
in a foreign country associated with the library or university or

just willing to do bibliographical research, please pass the
information to Joel Birenbaum, 2486 Brunswick Circle,
Woodridge, IL, 60517.

For those of you interested in statistics, there are currently
1430 editions illustrated by other than Tenniel, 1231 editions
illustrated by Tenniel only, and 1266 editions in foreign lan-
guages populated in the database. Whereas there was no
precedence for the structure of the database, I am pleased to say
that I am indebted to the bibliographers who have gone before
me for a substantial start on the data. Data has been gleaned
from Alice in Many Tongues, Alice One Hundred, Lewis
Carroll at Texas, Lewis Carroll 's Alice: An Annotated Check-
list of the Lovett Collection, and Much of a Muchness. My
thanks also go to Jon Lindseth for providing me with a listing
of his vast collection and Bea Sidaway for taking time to answer
my many questions on his holdings. David and Maxine
Schaefer have also kindly provided me with a list of their
foreign translations. Thanks also go to the first brave users of
the database, Mark Richards, Edward Wakeling, and August
Imholtz. I would be remiss if I did not thank Alice Berkey,
Sandor Burstein, Linda Pringle, and Selwyn Goodacre who
have been a source of bibliographical information over the
years.

If you would like to see the database in all its glory, it will
be on display at the International Lewis Carroll Conference on
June 11, 1994. There will be tutorials on how to use the
database and how to create related databases.

Alice Software Keeps on Coming

Just as Carroll enthusiasts seem to be
attracted to computers, computer experts
are attracted to Carroll. Alice is now
available in several electronic forms, in-
cluding the previously reviewed Voy-
ager Electronic Book version of The
Annotated Alice, the complete text of the
book on the Great Literature Personal
Library Series CD-ROM, and several
previously reviewed computer adven-
ture games. While Alice's computer
incarnations began with games, they have
become more academic in nature with
the availability of the text through online
services, and the creation of Joel
Birenbaum' s database fox Alice bibliog-
raphy.

The latest piece of Alice software
falls in the games category, however.
Alice in Musicland, a new software pro-
gram for the Macintosh available at most
computer software outlets, has little to do
with Lewis Carroll. A series of four
games help children learn about music as
they practice matching and memory
skills. In each game, the illustrations of

Sir John Tenniel serve as a backdrop, and
some of these illustrations have been
crudely animated. The cleverest of these
shows the White Rabbit disappearing
down the long hallway as the computer

says "Goodbye" when the player quits a
game. Completists will want to add this
software to this collection, and their young
children may enjoy playing the games,
but the relationship to Carroll is minimal.

Fall Meeting in Boston

The Fall 1993 meeting of the LCSNA
will be held at 10:00 am, Saturday No-
vember 20, at the Houghton Library of
Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.
Regulars of LCSNA meetings should
note the special time of this gathering,
which will be followed by a luncheon at
the Inn at Harvard. The program will
include a talk by LCSNA member Rosella
Howe, who will enlighten us about some
of the treasures of the Harcourt Amory
Collection of Carrolliana housed at
Harvard. Fran Abeles, LCSNA trea-
surer, will discuss her work on the soon
to be published Mathematical Pamphlets
of Lewis Carroll, and Glen Downey will
present a talk titled "From Structural

Resynthesis to Structural Afirmation: An
Examination of the Chess Problem in
Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-
Glass."

The Boston International Book Fair
will also be held the weekend of our
meeting, and program coordinator Janet
Jurist will be doing her best to secure
complimentary passes to the fair for So-
ciety members. For those looking for
accomodations, Janet has made special
arrangements with the Hotel Eliot, which
is conveniently located near the Book
Fair and a short bus ride from Harvard.
Reservations can be made by calling
617-267-1607.

See you in Boston!

Registrations for 1994 International Conference
Now Being Accepted

Places at the 1994 International Lewis Carroll Conference
may now be reserved by LCSN A members. Between now and
November 1 , registration will be limited to current members of
the LCSNA. There are only sixty spaces available, so we
encourage you to register early to secure a spot.

The conference will be held at the Graylyn Conference
Center of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.
Graylyn is a former private estate which has been made into one
of the nation's finest conference centers. The elegant stone
manor house will be the sight of conference events, including
gourmet meals, lectures and panel discussions, and films and
other entertainment. For attendees who are able to find some
free time in the busy conference schedule, Graylyn provides
swimming, tennis, and even croquet facilities.

Many conference delegates will be housed in the manor
home, while others will have rooms in nearby guest houses. All
rooms include private baths. A limited number of special
"antique rooms" are available. These rooms are furnished with
beautiful antiques, and are slightly larger than the other rooms.
Antique rooms are available for an additional $50 per night (or
$75 per night for couples).

The Conference will begin on Thursday afternoon, June 9,
1994, and end on Sunday morning, June 12. The conference
fee of $500 includes meals and snacks, room, programs, use of
facilities, and even a 24 hour self serve ice cream bar. Alchoholic
beverages are available at meals and some other times, and may

be charged to your room and paid for at check out.

The conference program is currently being planned, and
will include lectures by some of the leading Carrollians in the
world. While the theme of the conference is Lewis Carroll &
America, presentations will by no means be limited to that
topic. To provide a break from the serious academic nature of
the conference, a variety of entertainments will be planned,
including music, theatre, and film. Another conference high-
light will be the third Lewis Carroll Auction. The conference
will also include demonstrations of computers adapted for
Carrollian uses, exhibitions, and a forum for collectors to buy,
sell, trade, or just share their favorite items.

A variety of publications are being prepared for distribution
at the conference, and when it is all over, the conference
proceedings will be published and distributed to those who
attended. Other will be able to purchase the proceedings for a
small fee.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to be part of Carrollian
history and spend three days in a setting which would make
Carroll's aristocratic friends feel right at home. The $100 pre-
registration fee is non-refundable, and will reserve you a place
as soon as it is received. Please indicate if you would like a
regular or antique room. Antique rooms, as well as other
conference places, will be awarded on a first come first serve
basis, so we encourage you to register early to ensure that you
won't miss this wonderful experience.

Second International Lewis Carroll Conference

Registration Form

Please reserve place(s) at the International Lewis Carroll Conference. I

understand that my registration fee is non-refundable and that the full price of the
conference is $500.

Please reserve an antique room for

people. I understand that an additional

charge of $150 for one person or $225 for two people will be added to the basic cost of
the conference for this room.

Name and Address:

Amount Enclosed ($100 per person)

Return to: Joel Birenbaum, Registration Coordinator, LC Conference, 2486 Brunswick Circle, Woodridge, IL, 60517

Carrollian
Notes

Society to Hold
Auction

A highlight of the 1994 International
Conference (see opposite page) will be
the third Lewis Carroll auction. Previ-
ous auctions have raised over $4000
for the Society's publishing program,
and proceeds from this auction will be
used for that and to help finance the
conference and its publications. It's
not too early to think about contribut-
ing items to next year's auction. In the
past, members' contributions have in-
cluded everything from editions of Alice
(in English and many other languages)
to works of art, collections of ephem-
era, and other related materials. Alan
Tannenbaum, current Vice-President
of the LCSNA, will coordinate contri-
butions to the auction, and we encour-
age you to scour your closets for some-
thing special to make this our best sale
yet. Some members are even produc-
ing crafts and original artworks to con-
tribute to the auction. Bidding at the
sale will not be limited to those attend-
ing the conference — anyone may bid
by mail — so plan to participate by con-
tributing items now and adding new
items to your collection later. All con-
tributions are tax deductable to the
extent allowed by law. Please send
items to Alan at 2431 NE 46th St.,
Lighthouse Point, FL, 33064.

Fund Drive
Underway

Recently Stan Marx, founder of the
LCSNA and president of the Lewis
Carroll Foundation, sent a letter to all
LCSNA members asking them to con-
tribute to the Foundation's effort to

raise funds for the Lewis
Carroll Birthplace Trust in
England. The Birthplace
Trust hopes to establish a
museum in the village of
=^== Daresbury where Carroll was
born in 1832. The Trust has been given
two buildings, and is raising funds to
convert them into a visitors' s center
and library. Already the Trust has
purchased the land on which the Old
Parsonage, where Carroll was born,
stood. The land has been prepared for
tourists with fences, benches, and park-
ing, and was dedicated on May 31.
Many members of the LCSNA have
already contributed to this worthy
cause, and we encourage you to give
what you can. Stan informs us that any
gift, no matter how small, will be ap-
preciated. We hope to be able to say
that the American lovers of Lewis
Carroll and Alice, both children and
adults, helped to create this lasting
memorial to this great author.

Barefoot
Oysters Pop-Up

Nick Bantock has followed up his re-
cent pop-up edition of "Jabberwocky"
with a similar edition of "The Walrus
and the Carpenter." The book is pub-
lished by Viking and retails for $9.95.

Bantock's whimsical pop-ups work
even better here than in his earlier
Carrollian effort. The surreal qualities
of some of his scenes reminded this
reviewer of Tanguy and Magritte in
their more lighthearted moments. One
wonders, however, if Bantock has paid
more attention to his artistic predeces-
sors than to the text of the poem he
illustrates. The very page on which
Carroll informs us that the oysters
"hadn't any feet" includes an illustra-
tion of oysters with feet. Bantock's
oysters, unlike Carroll's, however, do
not have shoes.

MEETING (continued from page 2)

photographs, as Findlay showed, but the
intriguing question of the direction of
influence requires further exploration.
To what extent did Lewis Carroll try to
reproduce in his photographs the compo-
sitional structure of famous or at least
well-known paintings, and did Carroll's
photographs influence painters like
Tissot? We hope that she will be able to
publish her results in this fascinating
interdisciplinary field.

Following the meeting, most of those
gathered adjourned to the home of Janet
Jurist who served as hostess for a lovely
party which gave us all time to renew old
friendships and talk of Dodgson and other
topics of importance. We thank our speak-
ers, the NYPL, and Janet for a lovely day
in New York.

book Lewis Carroll's Alice ^ L *-* '-' L ^-^ ^J ill.

was published, expert bibli- ""*^™^
ographer Hilda Bohem wrote me a kind note in which she pointed
out that I had mis-identified the true first edition of Through the
Looking-Glass. Ms. Bohem' s superb article in Jabberwocky,
which chronicled her investigation of the early printing history of
this title, proved that the book was published in America before the
London edition was issued, and therefore only the first American
edition should be called the "First Edition." I promised Ms. Bohem
an errata slip to correct this and other errors, but never managed to
get one printed. I mention all this not only to publicly set the record
straight about this book, but also to make a point about bibliogra-
phy. It can be frought with inertia, and it is sometimes difficult to overcome
the accumulated mistakes of decades of reference books with one superbly
written article, especially when the only outlets for such articles are relatively
obscure journals. Kudos to Ms. Bohem for reminding us all not to ignore the
right answer for the more widely published one.

rrotn Dor rar-ftomQ*

Another Carrollian ski area has been
sighted, this one at Winter Park, CO.
Trails are named after characters from
the Alice books from the easy slopes such
as March Hare and Mock Turtle, to the
advanced run, Cheshire Cat, which curves
in the shape of a large grin.

The New Ink Festival of the San Fran-
cisco Symphony played LCSNA mem-
ber David Del Tredici' s "Virtuoso Alice"
on April 17th.

SPymagazineforMay 1 993 printed what
was supposed to be a humorous compari-
son between Alice Liddell and Katie
Beers (the child who was kidnapped and
imprisoned by a family friend on Long
Island recently). We were not amused.

Fritz and Floyd have produced a series of
Alice in Wonderland porcelain pieces.
Included are a Queen of Hearts cookie jar
($135), Mad Tea Party tea pot ($95),
Tweedles salt and pepper shakers ($25)
plus 14 other pieces. Find a dealer near
you by calling 1-800-527-5211; order
from Pass the Salt and Pepper, 3337 N.
Broadway, Chicago, IL, 60657 and pos-
sibly receive a 20% discount negotiated
by LCSNA member Joel Birenbaum; or
see the Potpourri catalogue for Spring
1993 which has several of the pieces
pictured on the front and back cover.

Barbara Raheb (31032 Elizabeth Ct.,
Agoura Hills, C A, 91301) publishes min-
iature books and has the following Carroll
titles in print: AAIW, $30; TTLG, $35;
Snark, $24; Selected Poems, $25; and an
upcoming Walrus and Carpenter pop-
up. Shipping is $2.50.

Gorr-cgpondentg

Peake Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Winter
1992), contains Gavin O'Keefe's "A
Snark from Sark: Mervyn Peake' s Illus-
trations for Lewis Carroll's Hunting of
the Snark." Copies of the publication of
the Peake Society may be ordered from
G. Peter Winnington, Les 3 Chasseurs,
1413 ORZENS, Vaud, Switzerland.

Curiouser and Curiouser, Reflections on
Alice by the Occidental Community Choir
is a charming musical cassette tape. For
information write to the Choir at P.O.
Box 691, Occidental, CA, 95465. A
mixture of classical Alice and contempo-
rary comments (e.g. "There are So Many
Mad Hatters," reflects on the Washing-
ton, D.C. scene, the Rodney King trials,
and so on).

In the book Peppers: A Story of Hot
Pursuits, by Amal Naj, Dr. Irwin Ziment
defends the actions of the cook in AAIW,
claiming that pepper in chicken soup
makes for an excellent treatment for the
common cold. Perhaps the baby was just
a little congested.

A current exhibition at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York titled "The
Waking of Dream," features photographs
from the Gilman Paper Company Col-
lection, including a copy of Lewis
Carroll' s famous portrait of Alice Liddell
as beggar maid. The New Yorker said of
Carroll's photograph and one by Hugh
Diamond Welsh that they are "so charged
with the currents that lay below [Victo-
rian England's] surface that it's hard to
stop looking."

Boston' s Museum of Fine Arts, P.O. Box
1 044, Boston, MA, 02 1 20-0900, offers a
double-sided costume for $45 (reduced).
By a flip of the hood Alice becomes the
White Rabbit. Two sizes, 2-5 & 6-8.
Phone orders, 1-800-225-5592.

The March 1993 issue of Smithsonian
Magazine includes an article on topiary
art starting on page 100. Several photo-
graphs of the Wonderland garden at
Longwood, Lennet Square, PA, are re-
produced, including a full page image of
a frog footman and several smaller pic-
tures.

The Arena Players in East Farmingdale,
NY, presented the world premiere of
Ron Mark's new play, Satan in Wonder-
land, this past February and March on
their Main Stage. In the play, a woman
unlocks the horrors of her childhood (she
was kidnapped and abused by a Satanic
cult) using Alice in Wonderland as the
key. There is much about transformation
taken from Carroll's book, and much
about abuse as well. The New York
Times' printed a favorable review, while
Newsday's critic was apparently
unimpressed. Running at the same time
at the Arena Players' Second Stage next
door was a production of Alice in Won-
derland for children. Newsday points
out that "there are no subliminal satanic
messages in this children's theater pro-
duction."

Mervyn' s Department stores in Califor-
nia sell Alice boxer shorts for about $20.
They are silk, made in China, and show
Alician figures dancing about a blue-
black background.

For assistance in preparing this issue we would like to thank: Joel Birenbaum, Gary Brockman, Sandor Burstein, Nancy Finlay,
Johanna Hurwitz, August Imholtz, Vito Lanza, Stephanie Lovett, Lucille Posner, Princeton University Library for permission to
reprint the photographs on page 1, and David and Maxine Shaefer.

Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. It is published quarterly and is distributed
free to all members. Subscriptions, business correspondence, and inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, LCSNA, 617
Rockford Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20902. Annual membership dues are $20 (regular) & $50 (sustaining). Submissions and
editorial correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Charles C. Lovett, 10714 W. 128th Ct., Overland Park, KS, 66213.